The Politburo Diktat

Did eyes, the evolution of vision, trigger the Cambrian explosion? Evolutionary science, if told in a Stephen Jay Gould-ish fashion can be pretty interesting. May have to put the book, In the Blink of an Eye: the cause of the most dramatic event in the history of life, on my Amazon wish list.

You gotta read Allah Is In the House, the best deity blog this eon.

Americans use raid in Saddam Hussein’s hometown to instruct Iraqi police

TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) With U.S. troops watching from a distance, dozens of Iraqi police stormed a farm near Tikrit on Saturday in what the Americans said was a promising sign that Iraqis are beginning to take responsibility for their own security.

The police raid in Saddam Hussein’s hometown, 120 miles north of Baghdad, showed signs of confusion. The Iraqi police commander who led the raid said he believed that boxes of ammunition and artillery fuses unearthed in a dusty field were buried by the Iraqi army, contradicting the Americans who insisted the Russian-made equipment was recently hidden by guerrillas.

‘’We want the Iraqi police to take the initiative and be as independent as possible, so that we can go home when our job is done here,'’ said Lt. Col. David Poirier, commander of the 720th Military Police Battalion.

Four Men Arrested in Mosque Bombing

NAJAF, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi police have arrested four men in connection with the bombing of Iraq’s holiest Shiite Muslim shrine, and all have links to al-Qaida, a senior police official told The Associated Press on Saturday.

The official, who said the death toll in the bombing had risen to 107, said the four arrested men — two Iraqis and two Saudis – were caught shortly after the car bombing on Friday.

The police official, who led the initial investigation and interrogation of the captives, said the bomb was made from the same type of materials used in the Aug. 19 bombing at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.

Aviation pioneer Lindbergh sired five children in Germany: press

Famed aviation innovator Charles Lindbergh fathered a total of five children a late-life German love-nest, according Monday’s edition of the weekly Focus magazine.

Earlier this month, three Germans claimed Lindbergh had an affair with their mother, Brigitte Hesshaimer, a 31-year old milliner he met during a visit to Munich in 1957.

Lindbergh died in 1974, aged 72, after rising to world fame for making the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic in 1927 aboard the “Spirit of St Louis”.

Focus said that Lindbergh was also involved with Hassmaier’s elder sister, Marietta, who was Brigitte’s rival in a triangular relationship.

Car Bomb Kills 75 at Mosque in Iraq

A car bomb exploded at the Imam Ali mosque during Friday prayers in the holy city of Najaf, killing 75 people, including one of Iraq’s most important Shiite clerics, authorities said. Among the dead was Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, 64, who had just delivered a sermon calling for Iraqi unity.

This has to be a watershed event, one way or the other. Would not Iraqis see the bankruptcy of the terrorists? If not, I don’t get it.

U.S. Forces Scale Back in Saudi Arabia

The Pentagon has withdrawn most of its forces from the strategic Mideast nation of Saudi Arabia, ending a decade-long buildup started after the first war against Iraq.

With Saddam ousted from office in neighboring Iraq nearly five months ago, U.S. military officials transferred back to the Saudis control of portions of Prince Sultan Air Base and deactivated the 363rd Air Expeditionary Wing that has operated there, the Air Force said in a statement Wednesday.

And more will be leaving South Korea, Turkey, and Germany.

Coalition Nations Standing Firm in Iraq

VIENNA, Austria - They’re talking tough � and standing firm.

Nations that have sent forces to help keep the peace in postwar Iraq (news - web sites) have no immediate plans to draw down or pull out despite mounting casualties, eroding security and a growing wariness of the potential for a quagmire.

The coalition includes about 140,000 U.S. soldiers backed by some 24,000 troops from other countries, including 11,000 from Britain, 3,000 from Italy, 2,400 from Poland, 1,650 from Ukraine and 1,300 from Spain.

TCS: Defense - Eliminating Smoldering Coals

Paradoxically, the more horrific the targets for attack, the weaker the terrorists. The truck bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad is a classic example. Unable to pull off something of that magnitude against an American or British military outfit, the terrorists pick a soft, innocent target upon which to vent their murderous nature. After all, in a country awash in munitions, putting together a truck bomb is no great shakes. Killing for the sheer horrific effect makes them feel successful. Only a sociopath gloats over murdering innocents. So they blow up children, women and bystanders in their random acts. But each attack underlines the fact that they are becoming progressively weaker.

The wonder to those of us who trained to be guerrillas is not that there is so much activity right now in Iraq but so little. If the situation was reversed and our special ops guys were advising the resistance, the entire country would be aflame. A well-trained, organized force supported by a significant percentage of the Iraqi population would have scores of bombings daily along with dozens of assassinations.

What this tells us is that 1) the terrorists are strictly on their own. Most of the Iraqi population does not support the terrorists yet fears a return of the Baathists. That is why icing Usay and Qusay was so important and why double-tapping Saddam will usher in a new era to Iraq. And, 2) these terrorists are typical of the Middle East variety: poorly trained, uneducated hate machines bent on martyrdom. Fortunately, they have come to the right place to accomplish that goal.

UN Council Approves Resolution to Protect UN Staff

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Spurred by the bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, the Security Council on Tuesday voted unanimously for ways to improve protection for U.N. and other aid workers around the world after a day of tense talks between Mexico and the United States.

The Mexican-drafted resolution, co-sponsored by France, Germany, Russia, Bulgaria and Syria, was first circulated in April and then taken out of mothballs after the bombing of the U.N. headquarters on Aug. 19 that killed 23 people and injured many others.

It urges nations to prosecute perpetrators of crimes against U.N. workers and those from other relief or nongovernmental organizations engaged in humanitarian efforts. It says states should adopt laws ensuring that violence against humanitarian workers is treated as a war crime.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the council it was the obligation of everyone “to protect those working under the blue flag and to bring to justice those who attacked and armed them.”

He said the resolution sent a message to those who believed they could advance their cause by targeting aid workers.

There. That’ll show ‘em. The UN means business. A really tough resolution.

New Iraq Tape Threatens Death to Council

An Arabic television station aired a videotaped warning from previously unheard-of Islamic groups in Iraq Tuesday threatening death to members of a U.S.-formed council and Iraqis who cooperate with U.S. troops.

“They formed this council to hurt the resistance (to occupation) and Iraqis. More than nine of its members do not have Iraqi nationality. Death to the spies and traitors, before the Americans,” a masked man said on the tape, broadcast on Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV.

“Unfortunately, many Iraqis have got involved with them. We’ll kill them first before we kill the Americans,” he said, speaking in the name of three Iraqi groups: Islamic Jihad, Muslim Youth and the Iraqi Liberation Organization.

I wonder how many individuals are behind these “multiple” groups. Too bad we couldn’t just check their IP addresses. It’s probably 15 guys in a basement, cooking up new names on a daily basis.

African Explorer Thesiger Dies at 93

Sir Wilfred Thesiger, writer, explorer and chronicler of the world’s vanishing ways of life, has died at age 93.

Thesiger, who grew up in Africa and lived most of his life among the African and Arabian peoples whom he loved and admired, died Sunday in a hospital, according to a death notice in The Times newspaper. No further details were published.

Thesiger’s most famous books were “Arabian Sands,” about his travels with the Bedu people across the Empty Quarter of southern Arabia in the 1940s, and “The Marsh Arabs,” the story of the Shiite marsh dwellers of southern Iraq, who later became a target of Saddam Hussein.

Annan vows UN will complete work in Iraq

The UN has a problem. A relevance problem. Maybe that problem is all George Bush’s fault. But, the UN has a problem.

Following last week’s bombing of UN Headquarters in Baghdad, will the UN “cut and run?” Hit where it hurts, will the UN “pull a Mogadishu?” It may very well do so. It may curtail its activities in Iraq. And then what? Sideline itself on one of the most prominent problematic countries in the world today? For all the spin that the administration might put on various UN resolutions, the UN sat out the war. Will it sit out the peace?

Most reports and most pundits opine that the U.S. is in over its head in Iraq and desperately needs the UN’s involvement. The coalition is losing 1 or 2 soldiers a day. As noted in an earlier post, that’s fewer deaths (on an annual) basis than we suffer due to bicycling deaths, boating accidents, OR train accidents.

Already, the U.S. has lots of help, lots of other security forces, in Iraq. There are 50,000+ Iraqi police and security forces, and more being trained every day. There are also 20,000 Coalition forces from other countries (UK, Poland, Australia, Italy, Denmark, etc.).

Maybe the U.S. will “swallow its pride,” and turn over all the decision-making authority to the U.N. I don’t think so. If we’re in a quagmire, it’s only ankle-deep and we’ve already got some help.

The UN may have a tough choice in the coming weeks and months. Get in or get out? It’s up to France, Germany, Russia, Kofi Annan, India, et al.

Shi’ites March in Iraqi City After Attack on Cleric

In Najaf, many in the crowd of at least 2,000 blamed Sunday’s bombing on supporters of rival Shi’ite leader Moqtada al-Sadr.

“This was Moqtada al-Sadr. His people did it,” said 60-year- old Muslim Raadi, following the three wooden coffins.

SCIRI, led by Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, is represented on the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council, which Washington calls a first step toward democracy.

The bombing took place near the Imam Ali mosque, tomb of Ali, a caliph and cousin of the Prophet Mohammed, and the most sacred Shi’ite site in Islam. Ten people were wounded in the attack, which ripped a hole through the wall of the cleric’s office.

Iraqi police wearing bulletproof vests and armed with AK-47s guarded the building Monday, although Hakim was not inside. U.S. troops, who have maintained a low profile in the city due to religious sensitivities, were nowhere to be seen.

A Bicycle Quagmire?

With all the talk of a “quagmire” in Iraq and the U.S. getting “bogged down,” I wanted to understand better our losses. They have been running at 1 or 2 killed per day, including Americans and Brits. Annually that would be between 400 and 700.

The linked table show accidental deaths in the U.S., specifically the annual average from the mid 1990’s. Unsurprisingly motor vehicle accidents kill far more than any other causes - over 40,000 per year. But consider the smaller risks — 9,000 annually die from (nope, not from terrorism, not from fighting in Iraq) poisoning. Almost 4,000 per year from fires. At current rates, that’s about eight times as many Americans die from fires, as military personnel from all causes in Iraq.

How about drowning? 3,700. Or firearm accidents? 1,100. Railway accidents? 1,100. (I didn’t know 1,100 people per year rode the trains, let alone died in them.)

Bicycles - 800. And recreatiioal boating - 700!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a Bicycle Quagmire in this country. Who is to blame for these unnecessary two-wheeled deaths? We must call in the U.N. to save us from this mayhem.